Fantasia's on the rebound as her tour comes to Birmingham

Fantasia's last appearance in Birmingham was in June 2005 at the BJCC Concert Hall. At that show, she was the middle performer on a concert bill with headliner Kem and opener Rahsaan Patterson. (Special)

That performance clinched her dominance of the reality series' third season, eclipsing the other finalists and out-classing a bubbly Birmingham native named Diana DeGarmo.

Barrino's future seemed bright when she received the "Idol" crown in 2004, as confetti fluttered in the air and she belted her gospel-infused coronation ballad, "I Believe."

But like many winners of the Fox singing competition, Fantasia (who dropped her last name professionally) hasn't always sailed along a smooth path to stardom.

On the plus side: Her debut disc, "Free Yourself," went platinum and several singles have done well on the R&B charts. She's received eight Grammy nominations and earned a handful of smaller awards.

Fantasia starred as Celie in a Broadway musical of "The Color Purple," snagged her own reality series on VH1 and published a memoir, "Life Is Not a Fairy Tale," that became a New York Times best-seller.

Her latest album, 2010's "Back to Me," has earned mostly positive reviews, spun off two radio singles and prompted a national tour that stops in Birmingham on Saturday.

On the minus side, Fantasia had a sophomore slump with 2006's "Fantasia," which sold fewer than half as many copies as her first CD. Her personal life has been tabloid fodder, focusing on her lack of education, tumultuous relationships, family strife and spotty finances. She's been pegged as unreliable, flighty and more.

In August, she was hospitalized for an overdose of pills, and later confirmed this was a suicide attempt. But Fantasia has rebounded from that sad incident and proclaimed herself a survivor.

During a recent teleconference with reporters, Fantasia discussed topics both personal and professional. Here are some excerpts:

On her music style: "After I won the 'Idol' and having so many opinions and people feeling like, 'Let's take her this way,' and 'Let's take her that way' or 'Let's make her like this artist.' I always knew in the back of my mind, and deep down from the bottom of my heart, that they can't make me a pop artist. I'm not a dancer. I'm not this. I'm not that. I am soul."

On "Idol" backlash: "I guess you have to put your work in to (get) approval, especially when you're coming from a show like 'American Idol.' People would think, 'Well, that makes it easier.' No, it doesn't. It makes it harder because a lot of times, they don't take you that serious. They just stick you in that 'Idol' (mold). ... She's an artist, but not quite like most of the artists who have fought their way here or who wrote their way here. So, I had to put my time in."

Fantasia, looking glam to promote her new album, "Back to Me." (Special)

On media scrutiny after her suicide attempt: "You want me to be very honest with you? I don't pay no attention to it. I don't care what they say ... You're only human. People can have their say-so. They can have their opinions. They have every right to that, but will I let it affect me anymore? No. I'm in a better place. Every day, I take baby steps. I'm 26 years old and have dealt with a lot."

On her press image: "I've always been the artist that takes the heat. Don't everybody have anything nice to say about me. It's never anything good. They use the pictures, always the worst picture. If they say something, it's always the worst comment. All the good things I realize that I've accomplished or done, like when I received my high school diploma, I heard nothing about that. But before I got my high school diploma, I would always hear things like, 'She's dumb. She's this. She's that.' So, I guess I will always just be that artist that they will never give a break and I don't really care."

On her mind these days: "I have a gift and that is to sing. That's what I'm going to do, every time I get the (microphone) in my hand, I sing.. ... Everyday, I wake up and I just take baby steps. I do what makes 'Tasia happy. I focus on my music and my daughter. That's about it."

On the inspirations for her new album: "I grew up on great music. I grew up on gospel music, of course. So, that soul is in me. I was always that young lady who would listen to artists that friends my age weren't listening to. I would always be listening to Aretha Franklin. Musically, I loved how Stevie Wonder and Elton John would put their albums and their shows together. James Brown had so much soul to me. He used his church and anointed."

On her tour theme: "After coming out of the hospital, I remember saying, 'Well, what brought you through? What helped you out?' I stayed at my computer room on YouTube. I went on the YouTube, the people that were hot in the '50s and '60s era. I also YouTubed a lot of Cab Calloway. I watched those artists: Cab Calloway, Billie Holiday. I watched a lot of 'Mahogany,' Diana Ross, James Brown, Tina Turner, a lot of Queen, a lot of Aerosmith, just a lot of artists that I really, really love, but I was more stuck on that '50s-'60s era. So, I wanted to bring that to my show: the Cab Calloway outfits, the flapper dress, the spectator shoes, all of that is going to be a part of my show. I'm going to be dressed just like that."

On "The Color Purple" movie musical: "I'm not sure. They're still talking about doing it. When they're going to do it, I'm not sure, but I know they asked me to play Celie. I'm hoping and praying, keeping my fingers crossed, that they still have that idea because 'Color Purple' was something that was just something different for me, hard for me. At the end of the day, it was the best thing for me. The role was hard, but the role that I played, Miss Celie, that young lady, she taught me some things. She went through a lot, but she taught me some things. So, hopefully, I'll still be playing that part when they do start working on it."